In 2017, Ryan Malley from California, US, joined our 3 week EIA program in Cascais, Portugal. Before graduating from college, he wanted one last challenge and found it in abroad, with EIA. Ryan ended up running the marketing for a business called HerITech 3D, whose main goal was to take 3D scans of museums throughout Europe to create online libraries to preserve historic artefacts.

With this experience, he learned the importance of communication and that leadership is one of the most significant factors for any business.

The Importance of Communication and Leadership

The first time Ryan ever stepped foot into Europe was when he decided to join EIA in Portugal. He saw it as a unique opportunity to travel, work with people from all over the world, but also to grow and challenge himself in a way he’s never done before. He wanted to compete against top students from around the world.

When he got to EIA in Cascais, he found a group of 240+ students who were all highly motivated, intelligent and had some brilliant ideas up their sleeves. Although he was surrounded by some of the smartest minds, he also saw that communication was the biggest struggle for many teams.

Ryan believes that while all of the lectures and gurus were incredibly helpful, the most important lesson he learned during these 3 weeks was how important communication and leadership is. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how excellent your idea is. Because, at the end of the day, communication is the key to success.

How a successful Internship can turn into a Full-Time Job

During his time at EIA, he got the opportunity to do an internship with Caliva. Back in 2017 still a relatively young company, which expanded now and closed $75 million in funding. One of his assignments was to dive into their SEO (Search Engine Optimization). By using some of the skills he learned at EIA, he was able to give out suggestions to get better positions on Google.

After the internship ended, Caliva decided to hire him as a full-on sales representative. He managed large territories including the East Bay Area (Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, and Hayward).

Ryan Malley: Ready for the Future Career

From the EIA program to getting hired full time for Caliva wasn’t always an easy journey. On the other hand, he says it’s been incredibly rewarding, exciting and fun. At the beginning when he just started the EIA program, he thought everything moved in an incredibly fast pace. But, once he started working for Caliva, he realized that’s the pace you need to work to achieve your goals.

Because of the valuable lessons, he learned at EIA, Ryan started fully prepared into his new internship and ultimately managed to land a full-time job.

The time at EIA Cascais wasn’t just about taking courses, it was also a unique opportunity to explore another part of the world. Add to that, the chance to work with an international team and be exposed to other cultures. It’s a fun, challenging and life-changing experience, which Ryan Malley says was “everything he had hoped for.”

“I owe a lot of my success at my current workplace to the lessons that I learned at EIA.”

Ready to discover more Success Stories from EIA. Click here to get inspired!

Launched in 2015, Caliva Collective is an all-in-one cannabis dispensary, marketplace, grow facility and delivery service. It was named the #1 dispensary in the nation by Business Insider for establishing a regulated, safe and consistent source of cannabis. Caliva has its state of the art dispensary in San Jose and distribution centre in Brisbane, near Silicon Valley. They have recently closed $75 million in funding from investors that include former Yahoo and Autodesk CEO, Carol Bartz, and three-time Super Bowl MVP, Joe Montana. Caliva’s first round will go toward expanding production of the cannabis retailer’s recreational products which include marijuana flower vape cartridges and beverages.

European Innovation Academy

European Innovation Academy has become a recognized leader in tech entrepreneurship education. Our non-profit, educational programs are developed through joint partnerships with professionals from the world’s top institutions including: Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, and Google.

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